Laptop for Heavy Uni Work ($1800 Budget)

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  MS Paint on 31/01/2023 - 10:55

  +5

  Just another option….

  Replace battery of current MSI ~$100

  I had an MSI 14 that used to stop responding. Checked event manager and wifi card driver was causing the issue. Replaced windows default driver to the manufacturers driver and completely fixed the problem.

  • 

    Mxx on 31/01/2023 - 11:00

    OHH, I could look into this too! I bought it overseas so probably an overseas-only model too. I dunno if I can get it serviced here, but any generic repair shop could do the battery replacement I'm assuming?

    • 

      Kenb0 on 31/01/2023 - 11:07

      +2

      Most laptops are now able to be opened up by anyone with any DIY ability and have components replaced. I've replaced batteries, CPUs, screens, wifi cards, along with the usual stuff like RAM and SSDs. If you google your model number and service manual, should be able to see how easy it is to take apart and replace components. Then you just have to source a matching replacement part(ebay is usually good for this) and swap it. If you're still happy with the laptop and its performance and your only concern is battery life, this is a perfectly reasonable way to keep it going for a bit longer.

    • 

      MS Paint on 31/01/2023 - 11:07

      +1

      You can replace the battery yourself. There will be a video on YouTube for sure. It's very easy for a casual DIYer.

      Edit : Here is a teardown video on YouTube. I haven't watched it but I'm sure the battery will be covered in the teardown.

      Perhaps perform a fresh OS install. That alone may get rid of your shutdown issue.

      Uni is a few weeks away I'm guessing so now's a good time for a refresh.

    • 

      Mxx on 31/01/2023 - 11:16

      I'll definitely look into this. I'll have a go at solving the responding issue and it if works I'll just replace the battery and keep using the MSI. Thanks!

      • 

        MS Paint on 31/01/2023 - 11:32

        Sounds like a good plan to me.

      • 

        Roman Sandstorm on 31/01/2023 - 12:59

        I second this.

        You already have a 10th gen i7. Honestly, you are not going to get much real world 'performance' increase with the applications you use.

        My other suggestion applies to 13th gen CPUs just as much as yours: if your system is bogging down, given the info you have provided, look at Excel as the primary culprit. Try running it without any other apps in background. Alternately, try running the others without Excel. Excel is an amazing, versatile program, but my experience indicates it is really a resource hog. If you have tens of thousands of rows and/or lots of complex calculations I doubt even the latest CPU is going to help that much.

        • 

          Mxx on 31/01/2023 - 20:24

          @Roman Sandstorm: Excel is generally fine, I usually have a couple of thousand rows of data, my analysis program is what usually causes an issue (Graphpad Prism) and sometimes PowerPoint/PDF viewer (Foxit)

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  Kenb0 on 31/01/2023 - 11:04

  +1

  I'm partial to Lenovo Carbon X1 laptops for general usage. I had one as my work laptop since 2015, and because I had a good experience with it, I bought one for my personal laptop a few years later, and I'm still using it now. Also, I don't think its worth it buying the latest and greatest(in terms of CPUs) when it comes to general usage laptops, I tend to shop for maybe one generation behind, so you'll get bigger discounts as they clear stock to make room for new gens

  Something like this, maybe? https://www.lenovo.com/au/en/p/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpadx1/x…

  Can wait for a good cashback deal with lenovo, I think I got a 16% cashback on my last Lenovo carbon purchase(I buy them as needed for the family and extended family), which will bring the final price down further.

  • 

    Mxx on 31/01/2023 - 11:20

    Thanks for the suggestion! Just wondering, did the battery hold up well for you with Lenovo? (I haven't used Lenovo before)

    I've noticed with my MSI the battery lasted >7 hours at first but dropped down to max ~3 hours on 100% after maybe 3-4 months which sucks.

    • 

      Kenb0 on 31/01/2023 - 13:03

      +1

      yeah mine's been fine. It doesn't last as long as it used to but thats just basically normal battery behaviour. There is specific software that Lenovo supplies that charges in a specific way if its going to be plugged in all the time(ie. don't keep it at 100%). I'm perfectly happy to replace the battery when needed.

      • 

        Mxx on 31/01/2023 - 20:22

        Awesome, I'll check it out if I can't fix my current laptop :) thanks!

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  whatwasherproblem on 31/01/2023 - 17:39

  My budget is around $1800 for uni work (grad so pretty heavy use), I do a lot of data processing and analysis for research

  As an alternative to all of that (and depending on what Uni you go to I guess), can't you get your department to buy you one? If you need it for heavy-duty data processing work for your graduate studies, then a good case can be made that the Uni should provide it for you (and doubly-so if you're only going to be using it on-premises).

  I remember my uni provided a laptop (or at least a desktop) for all graduate students back when I was in grad school, so that could be an avenue for you to explore too.

  • 

    Mxx on 31/01/2023 - 20:27

    +1

    They do supply desktops for use on campus, but I don't think they do laptops :/ I need a bit of portability even on campus so I never asked for the desktop, and it'd be troublesome to transfer files between 3 PCs (home desktop, uni desktop, laptop).

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  mpower on 01/02/2023 - 13:38

  i saw Mwave advertising this last week for under $2k : https://www.mwave.com.au/product/hp-elitebook-845-g9-14-wuxg…

  Ryzen 7 processors are pretty decent from what i have read

  hit them up to see if they can meet your budget , no harm in asking i guess ?

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  Ghost47 on 01/02/2023 - 19:52

  Use Edge over Chrome, Edge is much better at memory management and since it's built on Chromium you get all the extensions.